The Golden Compass

[JohnnyLingo]

Originally Posted by creekster

I gathered. My point is that I did listen to the first and second books (books on CD, as I mentioned in the thread) so I feel like I have a pretty good idea about the books.

I don't find the books threatening nor do I find them unacceptable. In fact, and this is sincere and not meant as a sarcastic comment at all, I think anyone's kids are much better off reading this sort of book and discussing it with a parent, as my 9 year old did, than they are watching the Disney channel for a couple of hours. Seriously, I am more disturbed at how twisted some of the Disney channel stuff is in terms of how a family works, what is acceptable behavior for children, especially as they interact with adults and authority figures, and the value they place on important aspects of growing up, such as education and maturity. Now I can certainly appreciate that you might have a different view, and for YOUR 9 year old His Dark Materials might not be appropriate. For mine, however, I think they work out fine and are a good jumping off point for a lot of discussions about alot of topics such as faith, death, the spirit, symbolism, etc. To each his own.

You make some excellent points. I'd feel much better about my kid reading it if they discussed it afterwards. And Disney in general does seem to teach certain values that are not in line with what the church teaches.